MARYAM RAJAVI'S SPEECH AT THE CEREMONY FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE 1988 MASSACRE IN IRAN

Published: 21 August 2017

By INU Staff

INU - On the 29th anniversary of the massacre of political prisoners in Iran, and the first anniversary of the Movement Calling for Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre, a ceremony was held at one of the PMOI/MEK headquarters in Tirana, capital of Albania, on Saturday, August 19, 2017.

Many dignitaries and Human Right activists attended and addressed the ceremony. The included, the daughter of the late Senator Robert Kennedy and President of Robert Kennedy Human Rights Foundation, Ms. Kerry Kennedy, along with Mr. Mariano Rabino, member of the Foreign Affairs and Human Rights committees of the Parliament of Italy, and Senator Pietro Liuzzi, member of Cultural and EU Policy committees of the Italian Senate, as well as Ms. Ingrid Betancourt, former Senator from Columbia, and Tahar Boumedra, former director of the Human Rights Office of UNAMI.

The President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, made a speech at this gathering. She laid a flower wreath at the monument commemorating the victims, and paid them respects at the end of the ceremony.

Mrs. Rajavi’s speech before the attendees of the ceremony is reproduced below:

https://youtu.be/TvAH_Mq7na4

Dear sisters and brothers, the honorable friends of the Iranian Resistance,

I salute you all.

The presence of supporters of Iranian Resistance in this gathering, which is calling for justice for the victims of the 1988 massacre in Iran, is heartwarming.

This is an extraordinary gathering. Among you here today, more than 920 have spent many years in prisons of the Shah and Khomeini. Nearly 10 percent were incarcerated under the Shah and about 90 percent under the mullahs’ regime. Some served anywhere from 5 to 10 and 12, 13, 15 and even 17 years.

In 2009, the Iranian Resistance’s Leader Massoud Rajavi said that the names of all of you, who were in Camp Ashraf, Iraq, at the time, had been sent to all relevant international organizations.

The renowned American law professor Alan Dershowitz, once described the residents of Ashraf as “the largest concentration of witnesses” to the crimes of the Iranian regime in the world and urged the international community to protect these witnesses.

Hail to each and every one of you!

Every freedom-loving Iranian pays respects to the martyred heroes of the 1988 massacre and honors their memory. The highest and most precious commemoration, however, is what you did by reaching Ashraf from the regime’s torture chambers amid the many mass killings. You bore the scars and the wounds of torture on your bodies, but could not be stopped. You suffered greatly under the regime’s blockade in Ashraf and Liberty and persevered despite your injured bodies.

You recounted the innocence of the victims, conveyed their defiance of surrender and their message to everyone.

Indeed, what could be a more effective and appropriate commemoration for those martyrs than what you did?

Time and again, I have heard you speak of the valiant Mojahdein prisoners who hailed Massoud Rajavi when facing the torturers and executioners. They called out his name while bidding farewell when taken to the gallows.

By repeating this forbidden name, they wanted to not only express their love and faith in Massoud but to send a message to every one of us.

Their message was to Mojahedin who were continuing their path, to the generation that would follow them and to the youths who would be hearing their unfinished story. And that message was: to follow Massoud Rajavi’s path and ideal, the path of paying the price of freedom, the path of the unrelenting struggle for equality, and the path to fight for a society devoid of oppression, discrimination, ignorance, and duplicity.

Dear brothers and sisters,

Khomeini issued the fatwa for this horrific massacre. In those days, in response to the objections of Hossein Ali Montazeri, his heir apparent at the time, he wrote, "The religious responsibility of this decree lies with me” and stated his wish for the annihilation of the PMOI/MEK.

But now, history has damned Khomeini and the Mojahedin are the flames of hope, inspiring freedom.

September 6 will mark the 52nd anniversary of the founding of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran. Our founders founded this organization to bring freedom and eradicate all forms of oppression. To do so, they sacrificed their lives.

They taught their comrades in arm to be the harbingers of new values and lead the way. They also taught us the secret, which is to be truthful and willing to sacrifice.

The PMOI members massacred in 1988 were faithful to this same teaching. They persevered on their stance in the fight against the ruling religious tyranny. They thus founded a tradition which was later called, “standing by one’s ideal.”

Indeed, our movement has survived and thrived because it has stood by its ideal to liberate the people of Iran.

Iran’s future and the Iranian people’s freedom will be achieved by standing by one’s ideal, namely keeping aloft the flag and paying the price of overthrowing the mullahs’ reactionary Caliphate.

So, in the memory of those massacred heroes, let us recall some of their final words and messages.

Daryoush Rezaii, born in Mahidasht in Kermanshah, wrote in a poem for freedom:

“O’ freedom! Neither you thirst for blood, nor do we want to shed our own blood. How unfortunate that the evil executioners have drenched the path between us in blood.”

And these are the words of a brave PMOI woman, Zahra Bijanyar, who had been imprisoned for years in Ghezel Hessar Prison, to her relatives:

“I have realized that even if the oppressors mutilate our bodies they cannot take our lives so long as we remain steadfast in our beliefs. They can take our lives only when we sell out our faith and hearts. This is the secret to resistance and sacrifice in the history of mankind. Pray to God to bestow me faith and belief so that I would never put that which I desire before His.”

And Ahmad Ra’ouf, from Rasht, said, “They kept beating me all the time and asking me my name. I knew that they knew my name, but I did not tell them anything. I wanted to test myself and see how steel become stained steel.”

Now, let us flash back 29 years, to a scene in the city of Gatchsaran in southern Iran. The body of a young girl was hanging in the city’s main square. It was Massoumeh Barzandeh who was only 20 at the time of her execution. A sign on her clothes said: “She had been a PMOI recruiter.”

Massoumeh rose to the Heavens, but she continues to recruit young people for the PMOI. And today, 29 years on, Amnesty International writes in its report that “younger human rights defenders born after the 1979 Revolution” are targeted for “seeking the truth and justice” for the victims of the massacres in the 1980s.

And finally, I want to pay homage to Monireh Rajavi.

Throughout her detention, she cared for all her cellmates. She was a selfless and emancipated woman. Let us not forget the words she said to her cellmates in prison: “They want to kill our humanity and this is what we must fight against. We must show our affection toward each other more than ever.”

Let us applaud for one minute for all these heroes and heroines.

Dear sisters and brothers, honorable friends,

The Campaign Calling for Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre has expanded over the past year both in Iran and abroad. In response, the clerical regime undertook enormous effort to neutralize this movement. But it has failed miserably.

The mullahs were forced to retreat from their policy of hiding the 1988 massacre. The conspiracy of silence was shattered. The regime’s officials tried to justify this horrendous crime but they could not convince even many of their own clerics to defend the fatwa issued by Khomeini.

Indeed, the prospect of the regime’s overthrow stymied the regime’s supporters and allies. In contrast, many spoke out in defense of the PMOI/MEK. Many opened their eyes and saw the righteousness of the PMOI’s path and ideal such that throughout the past year, the mullahs repeatedly said and wrote that the PMOI/MEK had been vindicated in society.

This was yet another major defeat for the mullahs’ theocratic regime.

After the sham presidential election, when offering an assessment of the state of the regime, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s said the place of victims and executioners had been switched.

Yes, we managed to overcome the regime’s official propaganda.

Everyone saw that Khamenei had made a major political investment in Ebrahim Raisi, a member of the Death Commission in the 1988 massacre, to become president. But he was defeated by the Call for Justice movement.

The 1988 massacre is the hallmark of the mullahs’ religious dictatorship. In his first term, Hassan Rouhani appointed Mostafa Pour Mohammadi, a member of the Death Commission, as his Justice Minister. Now, in his second term, he has nominated as Minister of Justice another perpetrator of the massacre in Khuzistan Province. The European Union has already designated and sanctioned this man, Alireza Avayi, for being directly involved in violations of human rights. In reality, none of the regime’s factions can or want to distance themselves from this crime.

For this reason, in the past year, a number of the regime’s most disgraced murderers tried to justify the massacre in the face of the Call for Justice movement. These admissions are among the most important documents incriminating the regime’s leaders. They once again proved that it is the Iranian people’s inalienable right to overthrow the regime.

That you have compelled them to make such admissions represents one of the achievements of the Call for Justice movement over the past year. These confessions are particularly important because they have been made recently and can therefore provide a solid basis for an international commission of inquiry into the 1988 massacre.

At the same time, it is essential that the UN Security Council refer this case to the International Criminal Court to arrange for the prosecution of the regime’s leaders and those responsible for the massacre.

How the international community approaches this genocide and this crime against humanity is a litmus test of its adherence to the principles of human rights. As Massoud Rajavi said years ago, the prosecution and punishment of the perpetrators and masterminds of the 1988 massacre are the inalienable rights of human society, the people of Iran, and the PMOI/MEK.

Owing to the valuable year-round activities of the Resistance’s network inside Iran, today, we have ample evidence and documents. They include many names of the victims, the names of 112members of the Death Commission in Tehran and other provinces, nearly all of whom hold key positions in the regime. We also have the names and particulars of 213 criminals who carried out the death decrees in 35 cities as well as the information about the locations of several mass graves that had been previously hidden.

The PMOI Investigative Unit has recently acquired the names of hundreds of victims of the massacre in 1988 from inside the country. Each of these names has been thoroughly examined and verified, and their files have been completed. Accordingly, today, we announce the names of 426 members of the PMOI massacred in 1988, but whose names had not been announced previously.

Also, the new edition of the book titled, Crime Against Humanity, has been published in English. It contains the names and particulars of more than 5,000 PMOI martyrs as well as the pictures of hundreds of victims and their graves.

This book is presented to the people of Iran on the eve of the 52nd anniversary of the foundation of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran.

The work by the PMOI Investigative Unit is continuing and the names and particulars of many other martyrs are being investigated. Once completed they will be made public.

Here, I would like to call on my fellow compatriots help us in finding new names, pictures and particulars of the martyrs.

I would also like to extend my gratitude to my countrymen and women, particularly the supporters of the PMOI/MEK inside Iran, for their endeavors in the collection of the new names.

Indeed, this tremendous dossier must be made public line by line. It must be made clear what happened in the prisons of Ahwaz, Mashhad, Tabriz, Shiraz, Isfahan, Kermanshah, Qom, and other cities.

Since the first days of this massacre, the regime started to arrest and subsequently execute many supporters of the PMOI/MEK and former political prisoners who were not in prison. It must be determined who were the ones arrested and executed and what happened in the summary trials in western Iran?

At the time, the courts dealing with crimes committed at the war fronts were given a different mission and placed at the service of the regime’s killing machine. Ali Razini, presently a Supreme Court official, and Salimi, a former member of the Guardian Council, are among those who held the summary trials and ordered the execution of several groups of residents in cities in western Iran. They executed youngsters who had assisted the National Liberation Army of Iran. The ruling mullahs, however, have not published any information on those murders and the so-called trials.

Over the past 29 years, we have repeatedly insisted that information on these incidents must be made public.

In 1995, the regime had to agree to a visit by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran, Professor Maurice Capithorne.

In a telegram on February 9, 1996, on the eve of Capithorne’s visit, Massoud Rajavi raised 15 important questions:

How many prisoners has the clerical regime executed so far and how many of them lost their lives under torture?
How many were executed during the massacre of political prisoners in summer and fall 1988, to which even Mr. Hossein-Ali Montazeri, then-Khomeini’s designated successor protested?

Where were the bodies of those executed buried? Are their families and relatives still not informed of their places of burial and are they not authorized to visit the graves of their loved ones?

And where are the mass graves? How many victims are buried there and what are their names?

Yes, we will not relent until each and every one of these cases are opened and until everyone involved in this crime against humanity is put on trial before the people of Iran.

Dear sisters and brothers,

The regime that shed the blood of Iran’s most valiant children, subsequently sanctioned every other crime by violating all ethical and humanitarian principles.
Today, the Call for Justice Movement has shaken the clerical regime to its foundations and is focusing on all of the mullahs’ crimes and treacheries, including:

The mass executions of the 1980s;

The massacres in the Kurdistan of Iran;

The forced dispatch of thousands of teenagers to the minefields during the war with Iraq and other war crimes;

The chain murders of dissident intellectuals;

The assassinations of hundreds of opponents abroad;

The bloody crackdown on the uprising in Qazvin;

The crackdown on the 2009 uprising and the atrocities which took place in Kahrizak Prison;

The systematic assaults on women in prisons;

The mutilation of Christian priests;

The repeated slaughter of our Arab compatriots in Khuzistan;

The bombing of the Holy Shrine of Imam Reza;

The terrorist operations against other countries, including in Mecca, Saudi Arabia;

And the dossiers of seven bloodbaths at camps Ashraf and Liberty in Iraq, especially the massacre of 52 PMOI members on September 1, 2013.

These 13 dossiers, are some of the most important crimes that the regime has perpetrated.

The more the Call for Justice Movement advances, the more these dossiers are brought out of darkness.

The Call for Justice for the victims of the 1988 massacre is a national issue and an indispensable part of the Iranian people’s noble campaign to overthrow the clerical regime.

This campaign seeks to expand the resistance and the battle to bring down the religious tyrannical regime in Iran and establish freedom, democracy, and equality for all citizens.

We salute all those who have risen against the clerical regime. From here, we send our greetings to the political prisoners in Iran, especially those who are presently on hunger strike in Gohardasht Prison. We hail all of them for their determination and resistance.

I am confident that the religious dictatorship ruling Iran will be overthrown by the Iranian people’s uprising and resistance, and with their Army of Freedom and 1,000 bastions of rebellion.

The sacrifices made by our martyrs continue to open the way and guarantee our people’s victory.

God bless you all.

Iran, MEK and Regime Change Policy

by Pooya Stone 

 

29 July 2017

Since the major gathering of the Iranian opposition, MEK in Paris on July 1, the issue of necessity of regime change in Iran has gained traction.

“The only solution to free the people of Iran and establish peace and tranquility in the region, is the overthrow of the Iranian regime,” declared Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, in the major gathering of Iranians in Paris on July 1. She reiterated, “The regime’s overthrow is possible and within reach, and a democratic alternative and organized resistance MEK exists that can topple it.”

Maryam Rajavi’s call for regime change in Iran was widely echoed and supported by other prominent U.S. and European speakers. Among the speakers were former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton. All supported MEK ’s call for regime change in Iran.

Referring to the MEK , Bolton, said: “There is a viable opposition to the rule of the ayatollahs, and that opposition is centered in this room today. I had said for over 10 years since coming to these events, that the declared policy of the United States of America should be … to change the regime itself. And that’s why, before 2019, we here will celebrate in Tehran!”

After the MEK and Iranian resistance’s July 1 rally in Paris, Fox News reported, “The Trump administration is potentially considering seeking a strategy to try to topple the regime.” The resistance, however, only needs American political and perhaps economic support to effect “regime change from within.”

As the Iranian regime change notion has gained momentum by the MEK rally, the Iranian regime is regarding the issue very serious. Fouad Izadi, an Iranian international expert in an interview with the state television, admitted to the scope of the new sanctions and terrorist designation of the Revolutionary Guards in the US Congress.

In response to the question that what exactly the Americans are after, Fouad Izadi said, “It doesn’t need any analysis...Mr. Tillerson said about a month ago in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, and a couple of weeks ago Mr. Mattis in a press conference he had, said, … we want to change the regime.”
The new bill in the U.S. Congress has added to already shaky regime’s fears. Janati, the head of the Guardian Council announced on Thursday that the main issue which has preoccupied the Supreme leader is his concern over regime change.

Iran Lobby attacks against MEK

At the same time the regime’s apologists and satellite writers in the Western media started their barrage of fake news and attacks against MEK to foil the regime policy.

The Iranian regime and its lobbies have consistently worked to paint the MEK as terrorists – with no evidence to support it – and discredit them in the eyes of the international community.

For instance, Mehdi Hasan an advocate of the Iranian extremist regime in the Britain and an Al-Jazeera English anchorman, could not hide his blind hatred towards MEK. In an article in Intercept, he levied numerous unfounded and threadbare allegations against MEK with many of them rebuked in several court of law during past decade. He also slandered the top politicians for supporting MEK as a viable force and wrote: “Could it be because of the old, if amoral, adage that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”? Perhaps. Could it be the result of ignorance, of senior U.S. figures failing to do due diligence? Maybe.”

The prominent Washington Free Beacon introduced Mehdi Hasan as, “a controversial British media figure whom insiders have billed as a mouthpiece for the Iranian regime. ...praised Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and publicly branded all non-believers as mentally ill "animals".

Ali Fallahian, regime’s former intelligence minister, made shocking remarks in an interview with Aparat Internet TV, In relation to the massacre of 30,000 MEK prisoners in 1988 he said, “the verdict is death sentence ... Mr. Mousavi (Tabrizi) who was the Revolution general prosecutor used to say that there is no need for trial at all ... it makes no sense that we try MEK ... Imam repeatedly insisted that you should be careful not to let MEK go... Imam always emphasized that you should always be cautious of this side ... MEK ruling is always execution. This was his (Khomeini’s) verdict as a supreme leader, either before this issue of 1988 or afterwards.” Fallahian said,”Many journalists are the intelligence agents ... A journalist is not paid well, so he should work with an intelligence service.” It is hard to believe that Mehdi Hasan is mouthpiece for the Iranian regime for free, as it is hard to believe that he moderates NIAC leadership conference or inviting NIAC president Trita Parsi to Al-Jazeera for free. NIAC of Trita Parsi is widely known as an Iranian regime’s lobby entity kicked off help of Javad Zarif, when he was Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations. Trita Parsi, another MEK blind foe, unsuccessfully campaigned on behalf of the Iranian regime to keep MEK in the U.S. list of FTO. Mehdi Hasan and Trita Parsi are two typical Iran lobbyist stereotyping MEK as cultish and undemocratic. Obviously, by attacking the MEK and their supporters, they are trying to induce that the regime has no viable alternative and to kill any hope or chance for regime change in Iran, which should happen with the MEK at its core.

Iranian lobby is working hard to show that regime change policy for Iran is equivalent to war and they have been successful with some quarters. The New York editorial board on July 20 writes, “Prominent Trump supporters like John Bolton, a former ambassador to the United Nations; Newt Gingrich, former House speaker; and Rudolph Giuliani, former New York mayor, are pressing Mr. Trump to abandon the deal and are speaking out on behalf of the Mujahedeen Khalq, [MEK] exiled Iranian dissidents who back regime change.” The editorial concludes, “Trump would make a grave mistake if instead of trying to work with those moderate forces he led the nation closer to war.”

What is MEK Demand?

What does MEK stands for and is asking the West to do for the regime change in Iran. Is MEK demanding a war against Iran? No!

MEK supports Mrs. Rajavi call during the July 1, gathering when she said, “Our demands reflect the demands of Sattar Khan, revered leader of the 1906 Constitutional Revolution, and Dr. Mohammad Mossadeq, leader of Iran’s Nationalist Movement in 1950s. As I have reiterated, repeatedly, we want neither money, nor arms. …we say that the struggle of the people of Iran for regime change is legitimate, righteous and imperative. We urge you to recognize this “resistance against oppression.”

Link with Iranian people through MEK

During the July 1 gathering, Judge Mukasy, the 81st Attorney General of the United States in order to get rid of Mullahs, said, “The best way for both Iranians and non-Iranians to do that is to align with the Iranian resistance [MEK ] so as to make it clear to the oppressed citizens of Iran that the world's quarrel is not with Iran but with the mullahs who have subjugated Iran.” He said MEK members within Iran “have provided both an example and a tool with their daring publicity campaign within Iran urging regime change and posting photos of Mrs Rajavi and slogans opposing the clerical regime. They've been writing slogans on walls to support this gathering.

For five decades, the MEK has put themselves at great risks because of their ideals of democracy, freedom and equality. The Iranian regime has killed 120,000 of dissidents, including 30,000 political prisoners, during the 1988 massacre, the vast majority of whom were MEK supporters.

Indeed, regime lobbyists will be out in force this month but the MEK has the Iranian people and those who champion for human rights on their side.

The World’s Shame: Iran’s Hunger Striking Political Prisoners are Largely Ignored

Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, Contributor

08/25/2017 06:51 pm ET

Human rights record has deteriorated markedly in Iran according to human rights organizations including Amnesty International.

For example, most recently, on July 30, inmates in Ward 4, Hall 12 of Iran’s Gohardasht (Rajai Shahr) Prison were made subject to a violent and unexplained raid that led to more than 50 persons being transferred to Hall 10, where conditions and treatment are even worse than the prisoners had been experiencing up to that time. Hall 10 had been newly renovated ahead of the raid, apparently with the explicit intention of putting more pressure on the prisoners of conscience that the Iranian government was planning to transfer there. In their new surroundings, the prisoners are subject to 24-hour video and audio surveillance, even inside private cells and bathrooms. Windows have been covered over with metal sheeting, thereby reducing airflow during summer in a facility that was already known for its inhuman and unhygienic conditions. In additional, the raid saw the confiscation or outright theft of virtually all of the inmates’ personal belongings, including prescription medications. Since then, prison authorities have denied the prisoners access to medical treatment and have even blocked the delivery of expensive medications purchased for them by families outside the prison.

According to Amnesty International, withholding medical treatment is a well-established tactic utilized by Iranian authorities to exert pressure upon political prisoners, especially those who continue activism from inside the nation’s jails or strive to expose the conditions that political prisoners and other detainees face. The former residents of Hall 12 certainly fit this description, as evidenced by their response to the raid and worsening conditions. Despite the fact that their newfound stress and lack of sanitation already threatened to have a severe impact on their health, more than a dozen of the raid’s victims immediately organized a hunger strikeand declared that the protest would continue until they were transferred back to their former-surroundings and had their belongings returned to them.

In subsequent days, several of this initial group’s cell mates joined them, and at last count, 22 detainees were participating in the hunger strike, the vast majority of whom are serving sentences for political crimes like criticizing the government’s policies or supporting the country’s leading banned opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran. The core group of hunger strikers has been starving themselves for approximately a month now, and their health conditions have predictably deteriorated. Heart, kidney, and lung ailments have been reported, among other health problems in Iran’s prisons, and the prisoners appear to be rapidly approaching the point at which they may start dying as a result of their protest. Nonetheless, neither the Gohardasht authorities nor the Iranian judiciary have shown any sign of responding to their demands or publicly addressing the severity of the crisis. What is much worse, though, is the fact that the international community has not proven to be much more attentive to the hunger strikers’ dire circumstances.

Notwithstanding calls to action by such human rights groups as Amnesty International, there has been virtually no push by Western governments or the United Nations to put pressure on the Iranian regime to save the lives of the Gohardasht inmates. This is particularly disappointing in light of the recent shifts in Western policies toward Iran, which come after years of conciliation and neglect for human rights while the United States and its allies focused their attention narrowly on the nuclear issue and prospective trade deals. During that time, various human rights activists rightly criticized the world community for putting certain matters of Iran policy on the back burner even though they had an absolutely immediate impact on the lives and safety of potentially millions of Iranian citizens. It has been widely reported that Tehran has been cracking down with escalating intensity on journalists, activists, and other undesirables, and thus swelling the ranks of its political prisoners.

The Gohardasht raid is a clear indication that this trend is still ongoing, but the resulting hunger strikes are an equally clear sign that Iranians as a whole have not capitulated to the pressure yet. Unfortunately, in absence of a coordinated international response, this situation also promises to be a sign that for all their resilience in the face of violent repression, the Iranian people have precious little outside support that they can rely on. Every global policymaker and every prominent human rights activist has a responsibility to prove this conclusion wrong. Organizations like the National Council of Resistance of Iran have vigorously responded to the hunger strikes by calling for the United Nations high commissioner on human rights and the special rapporteurs on torture and on human rights in Iran to issue public statements and initiate a coordinated strategy that will impose serious penalties on the Iranian government if it does not address the plight of the Gohardasht hunger strikers. Some organizations that claim to be advocate of promoting Iran’s situation and Iranian people’s rights have ignored the issue and human rights violations.

​US Senators meeting with Iran opposition leader Maryam Rajavi

Shahriar Kia*

2017-08-17 14:29:12

Following measures passed by Congress to impose comprehensive sanctions against Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as a terrorist group and restrictions against human rights violations in Iran, signed into law by President Donald Trump, and as Washington is evaluating a new Iran policy, on Saturday prominent US Senators and a delegation of senior advisors met with Maryam Rajavi, President of the Iranian opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in Tirana, the capital of Albania.

This meeting signals a strong tendency in Washington for a major policy alteration vis-à-vis the rogue regime of Iran. Such a development addresses the necessary blueprint to bring about regime change.

Discussions were held regarding the current circumstances of members of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), the leading member of the NCRI coalition, following their transfer from Iraq to Albania. This relocation was made possible through efforts placed forward by US lawmakers. Recent developments in Iran and the Middle East, parallel to solutions to end the Middle East crisis, were matters also weighed in this meeting.

The Senate delegation included Senators Roy Blunt, Vice President of the Republican Conference, and member of the Appropriation, Select Intelligence, Rules and Administration, and Commerce, Science, and Transportation committees; Senator John Cornyn, the Majority Whip, and a member of the Judiciary, Select Intelligence, and Finance committees; and Senator Thom Tillis, a member of the Armed Services, Judiciary, Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and Veterans’ Affairs committees.

“Led by Senator Blunt, the delegation congratulated the safe and secure relocation of all Camp Liberty residents outside of Iraq and wished them success in their struggle for democracy and human rights in Iran,” according to a statement issued by the NCRI in its official website.

Senator Blunt, who played a very important role in the safe transfer of PMOI/MEK members to Albania and other countries across Europe, described the relocation as a foremost achievement for the Iranian people and opposition, lauding the efforts of Maryam Rajavi and her movement for the success of this seemingly impossible task.

Expressing her gratitude for Senator Blunt’s effort in the PMOI/MEK relocation initiative, Mrs. Rajavi also cited the Senator’s significant role in the adoption of the recent Iran sanctions bill. This especially refers to the passage of the new resolution imposing sanctions on Tehran and the IRGC for human rights violations, ballistic missile program and exporting terrorism.

The group transfer of all PMOI/MEK members out of Iraq delivered a rather crushing blow to the Iranian regime. This development came last September as the mullahs’ intended to annihilate the sole force able to bring about change in Iran and prevent their overthrow. Failure in this regard has Iran facing a long slate of turmoil.

In assessing current Middle East dilemmas and the threats posed by Iran against regional and international peace and security, Mrs. Rajavi emphasized that in contrast to the propaganda delivered by Iran apologists, the ruling theocracy in Tehran is actually very weak and extremely vulnerable. Without foreign support, especially the appeasement policy pursued in the U.S. and Europe, the mullahs would not have survived for such a period of nearly 40 decades. Regime change in Iran is necessary and within reach considering the existence of a viable and democratic alternative, Rajavi underscored.

In April Senator John McCain, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee visited Albania and met with Maryam Rajavi. In a short speech at a PMOI/MEK gathering, Senator McCain highlighted his support for their efforts to establish a free and democratic Iran.

A major convention in Paris was also staged last month in support of the Iranian opposition. Hundreds of political and parliamentary figures, alongside former US military generals who for years served in Iraq and the Middle East, and are very familiar with Iran’s threats, voiced their support for the NCRI and Maryam Rajavi.

From a series of meetings held to this day, there appears an emphasis on three different principles.

- Regime change in Iran is necessary.

- This change is at hand more than ever before.

- There is an organized opposition, enjoying widespread domestic and international support, capable of overthrowing this regime without a new war or foreign military intervention.

In Saturday’s meeting, Mrs. Rajavi said associating regime change by the Iranian people for democracy with war and instability in the region is nothing but a sheer lie spread by Tehran’s lobby in the West. They demagogically alter the truth, she noted, adding the mullahs’ toppling is a prerequisite to bringing an end to crises and a string of Iran-fueled wars across the Middle East.

The Senate delegation also met with a number of PMOI/MEK members, and witnesses and victims of the mullahs’ atrocities in Iran, and camps Ashraf and Liberty in Iraq.

https://youtu.be/M4r4OhJr-68

Shahriar Kia is an Iranian dissident and a political analyst on Iran and the Middle East. He is a member of the Iranian opposition and a graduate of North Texas University.

Iran on the path of North Korea

By Keyvan Salami

August 23, 2017

Iran can enrich uranium within five days if the U.S. imposes more sanctions on Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran's atomic agency head, warned this week. He claimed that Iran could achieve 20% enriched uranium in five days – a level at which it could then quickly be processed further into weapons-grade nuclear material.
Last week, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani announced that Iran could abandon its nuclear agreement with world powers "within hours" if the United States imposes any more new sanctions.
"If America wants to go back to the experience of imposing sanctions, Iran would certainly return in a short time – not a week or a month, but within hours - to conditions more advanced than before the start of negotiations," Rouhani told a session of parliament broadcast live on state television.
In response, U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley said Iran should not be allowed "to use the nuclear deal to hold the world hostage."
The Obama administration argued that there was no better alternative to its controversial nuclear agreement with Iran.  The argument was that the deal is good, as it potentially delays Iran's ambition to acquire nuclear weapons for at least ten years; it requires Tehran to reduce its stockpile of enriched uranium by 98 percent, disables the Arak facility from producing weapons-grade plutonium, reduces the number of centrifuges by two thirds, converts the Fordow facility into a research center, and allows for unprecedented intrusive inspections.

In addition, the deal would lengthen, from a few months to a year, the time frame in which Iran could reach the breakout point, providing the U.S. more time to act, even militarily.  Finally, the Obama administration suggested that a more prosperous and secure Iran might give up its drive to obtain nuclear weapons and may even become a constructive player in the community of nations.
Two years after the deal, the question is, will those claims still hold?  Did the deal "potentially" delay Iran's ambition to acquire nuclear weapons for at least ten years?  And did it make Iran "more prosperous and secure to give up its drive to obtain nuclear weapons and may even become a constructive player in the community of nations"?
The reality is that the deal not only has not curbed Iran's ability to obtain nuclear weapons, but also granted billions of dollars to Iran's malicious activities.  Two years after the deal, it is Rouhani who is confessing to this fact and saying Iran is capable of reaching the same point and even "conditions more advanced than before the start of negotiations" in a matter of few days.
"In an hour and a day, Iran could return to a more advanced [nuclear] level than at the beginning of the negotiations," Rouhani told a parliamentary session.
At the same session, a new bill was passed, a testament to the hollow claims of Iran's change of behavior as "a constructive player in the community of nations." 
In retaliation to new U.S. sanctions, with lawmakers chanting "Death to America," the state's military budget will be increased by almost $500 million, and $260 million will be pumped into the missile program alone.
A further $300 million will be added to the Quds Force's budget.  The bill charges the government to confront "threats, malicious, hegemonic and divisive activities of America in the region."
One might argue that their action is in reaction to new U.S. sanctions.  This might be true, yet it doesn't change the fact that Iran has maintained its capability of advancing its nuclear program, as Rouhani acknowledged.
The Iran apologists' take from Rouhani's threat is more concessions and to stop placing pressure on Iran.  A realistic approach, however, would be to take Rouhani's words seriously and put more pressure on Iran to halt its nuclear program once and for all.
Iran is following the same path as North Korea, and the nuclear deal with Iran must not fool us into imagining that the Iranians have stopped their ambition of becoming a nuclear power.
For the mullahs in Iran, the atomic bomb is the only guarantor of survival.  That is why they will never relinquish their ambition of becoming a nuclear power.
The only means to stop Iran is to support the Iranian people and their organized opposition for a regime change.

US ties with Iranian opposition strengthening

Dr. Majid Rafizadeh 

Friday 18 August 2017

The Iranian opposition is gaining momentum due to a growing consensus in the US Congress over the necessity for regime change in Iran. A senior delegation of US senators went to Albania’s capital Tirana this week to meet Maryam Rajavi, who heads the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a political coalition calling for regime change in Iran and considered the main threat to the ruling mullahs. 
They also met members of the People’s Mojahedin of Iran (MEK), the main member of this varied coalition of groups and individuals. The high-profile visit comes at a time when Washington has slapped major new sanctions on Iran, including its Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), for its ballistic missile drive, its support for terrorism and its human rights violations. Given that the IRGC controls over 40 percent of Iran’s economy, these new sanctions are a heavy blow to Tehran’s ambitions.
Ties between Iran’s opposition and US officials are strengthening, and the number of high-level officials supporting the opposition is rising. They recognize the opposition as a legitimate representative of many Iranians who seek democracy in their country. Rajavi expressed her gratitude for the US Senate’s tireless efforts to protect thousands of MEK members in Iraq and relocate them to Albania.
Previously, in a Senate briefing, several US officials strongly condemned Iran’s destructive role in Iraq. Sen. Roy Blunt joined an initiative demanding the urgent transfer of MEK members stationed in a former US military base known as Camp Liberty near Baghdad. 

Tehran fears the opposition’s soft power more than the hard power of foreign governments. That is why Iranian leaders and media outlets react forcefully and anxiously to such visits and opposition activities. 

Dr. Majid Rafizadeh

In April, Sen. John McCain, a longtime supporter of the Iranian opposition, visited the MEK in Albania and met with Rajavi. MEK members were able to leave Iraq after a four-and-a-half-year ordeal in Camp Liberty following their forced transfer from their 26-year home in Camp Ashraf, northeast of Baghdad. 
From 2009, following the transfer of security from the US military to the Iraqi government, the MEK came under eight major ground and rocket attacks by Iran-backed proxies against Ashraf and Liberty. This was in parallel with a seven-year siege. After losing more than 160 of their colleagues to the attacks and blockade, MEK members were finally able to leave Iraq for European countries, mainly Albania.
This latest visit sends a strong signal to Tehran that the NCRI is gaining momentum. This time last year, Tehran was hell-bent on destroying the MEK. Now the tide has turned, with the opposition on the offensive. 
Tehran fears the opposition’s soft power more than the hard power of foreign governments. That is why Iranian leaders and media outlets react forcefully and anxiously to such visits and opposition activities. The opposition can be a very powerful tool to pressure Tehran without the need for direct military confrontation.